Riding the Wave of Trade: Explaining the Rise of Labor Regulation in the Golden Age of Globalization

NBER Working Paper No. 15374Issued in September 2009NBER Program(s): DAE

The received view pins the adoption of labor regulation before 1914 on domestic forces. Using directed dyad-year event history analysis, we find that trade was also a pathway of diffusion. Market access served as an important instrument to encourage a level playing field. The type of trade mattered as much as the volume. In the European core, states emulated the labor regulation of partners because intraindustry trade was important. The New World exported less differentiated products and pressures to imitate were weak.